Monthly Archives: September 2014

We spend the day doing tourist things like visiting the Acropolis, Mars Hill, Zeus’ Temple, and of course finding the best gyro possible. We also find out that the Athens Metro is not that bad, and in fact is quite useful.
“It’s almost eight o’clock.” I say as we walk down a crowded street filled with street vendors, tourists, and locals. I smile knowing I’ve spent the last four hours in Greece.
“Ya, I know.” Piers says without looking up from a book, the book of gateways.
“Should you really have that out in public?” My voice tenses.
“It looks like any other book, I’ll just be sure to hold onto it tight. I wanted to see if Uncle had already put a Greece location in here. Maybe he has another shop like he does in California and China.” Piers says leafing through a couple more pages.
“Ya I guess that would’ve been smart before we created an entirely new page. Wait, what do you mean China?”
“There’s a location in the book for a store location just outside Shenghai.”
“That makes sense…You know, that’s where he was right before…”
“Ah he did have a location here.” Piers says changing the subject and shows me the page. A little store by the name of George’s Place. Not very descriptive.
“Wanna try and find it?” I nod my head yes. We ask a few locals and even try to find a map. After a while we find out it’s on the opposite side of Athens. We stand in front of the little orange cream building with a royal blue lamppost outside. To the left a large tree with leaves full and a rich green that provided shade for a couple of homeless dogs. By far the cutest place I had seen yet.
Piers and I walk pass the dogs who ever so slightly raise their heads to notice us, and then go back to sleep. We peer in the front window and see an older balding man with a salt and pepper goatee. He smiles and waves us in.
“Kalispera.” I smile and nod. Piers does the same.
“Kalispera, please come in and sit.” His English surprises me. Although most Greek people we have spoken to speak very good English, this man had no accent whatsoever.
“You work for my employer Milo? We found your store in our records.” I say sitting at a chair across from the man’s desk. Piers sits beside me.
“Yes, Milo a great man…He was a dear friend. I see you have picked up his knack of suddenly showing up.” He smiles.
“Yes, we keep hearing that.” I say returning the smile. “I’m Jazleen Cesar, and this is Milo’s nephew Riley Pierson.”
“Nice to meet you, I have heard much about you. My name is George Georgiades” He shakes our hands.
“What is it exactly that you do?” Piers asks.
“I am a financial adviser for your uncle. I take care of the various financial budgets and things of that sort.”
“You’ve continued to do this without pay? It’s been several months.” Piers’ eyebrows furrow.
“Your uncle was a very generous man, he paid me until the end of this month. I figured I would do my job as long as there was work to do.” George seemed to hold his breath.
“We would like a copy of all of his records he sent to you, and to continue your services.” I say trying to go back to a business side rather than bitter-sweet memories.
“Of course, it’ll take me a few minutes but I will grab them for you. Milo was a very busy man. I still don’t know how he did it all.” George stands and disappears into the back somewhere. Kittens with their mother appear out of nowhere and make themselves at home. Piers is not amused.
“No, Satan’s workers! No!” He pushes one away with his index finger.
“Stop being so mean, they’re sweet.” I say picking up a little black one with green eyes. I play with the cats while Piers sneezes and sulks until George comes back with a large binder of papers.
“This is for the last year or so. I tried to organize them according to location. There are at least fifteen international locations, and several in the United States.” George plops them down on the desk. Piers and I flip through the book seeing the various places in the records book link with the book of gateways location. So many places with so many stores. Milo definitely had a unique niche.
“Did you have a copy of the will George?” Piers asks.
“Yes, I am aware you both have joint custody. Otherwise I would not have shown you these records.” George chuckles a little.
“That would make sense, are we able to get a document of the yearly gross and deficit?” I say looking through a few more pages. “Oh and we will need a billing statement from you so we can continue with your services.” I smile. We continue on with George for another hour or so and gather all the documents. Turns our Milo had minimal deficit and around a seventy thousand yearly gross. Most of which went to churches, orphanages, as well as a little savings he set aside. He was a smart businessman. We say our goodbyes to George and give him our thanks. It’s a bittersweet thing to find out all these secrets Milo had. I wish he was here to tell me them himself.

Hey guys! It’s been a bit! Working two jobs consumes time! I’ll try to get on a regular posting schedule! As usual please like, share, and follow! 🙂 Thanks!

Sun streamed into my window, hitting me perfectly in my eye, so I know it has to be about nine-thirty. I toss and turn for a while until I hear a scratching noise. Where is that coming from? Another scratch. The Kitchen? My hands start to feel numb and my tongue is tingling. Someone is my house. I snatch a knife out of my bedside table and flick it open. I never thought I would actually have to use this. My body starts to shake. I can’t just stab someone. I close the knife and pick up a large cedar staff decoration instead. Then I suck in a deep breath and walk quietly down the stairs. I don’t hear the scratching anymore. The hairs all over my body stand on end as my attacker is somewhere in my home. Then I hear the fridge door go smack.
“Is that your idea of defense?” Piers asks between bites of apple. A green one.
“Are you insane? I could’ve killed you!” I toss the rod aside and slump in a nearby chair. “You’re going to give me a heart attack.” I say as I feel a stress headache develop.
“I doubt you could deliver enough head trauma to kill me with that rod.”
“Don’t test me.” I huff.
“Let’s go somewhere today.” Piers says walking from the kitchen area into the open living room.
“Do you think that’s the best idea after what Matt said?” Piers turns his back to me.
“I seriously doubt he knows anything even close to what we’re doing. Who would?” He says over his shoulder. The people who killed Milo, that’s who. Against my better judgment I can’t help but itch to travel somewhere else. I can go wherever I want… Ha, I can travel and still be poor.
“Where are we going?” He smiles.

~*~
We decide on Greece. Of course, what traveler wouldn’t want to visit the beautiful beaches, and ancient sites.
“Are we sure this picture will be sufficient?” Piers says holding up a picture of a beach with a large harbor in the background just a ways from Athens.
“It should suffice, thank you very much. There are defining factors in them like a café that’s been there for several generations and a government sign. My aunt took this picture for me.”
“If you say so.”
“So.” I say as I open the book of gateways to an empty page and place the picture onto it. The page warms to life and sucks the picture into a nice portal. The border at the ready for instant use. I suck in a deep breath still surprised by this strange magic or science, or whatever this is.
“Ready?” I nod. We sling our bags over our shoulders and lock arms. I take a deep breath as Piers places his finger on the “key hole” and feel that familiar sensation of being whipped around and forced through something entirely too small. Then darkness.
“Whoo!” I say dragging my head up to gather my surroundings. My hand naturally comes up to shield my eyes from the blistering sun. My head still a bit scrambled. I look over to see Piers rubbing his temples.
“Made it.” He grins wide. I nod and put on sunglasses.
“What time is it here?”
“About four fifteen.”
“That means all the locals she be arou-.” My mouth drops open as I see a little boy mirroring my expression. His face drained of all his usual olive color. I see Piers out of the corner of my eye waving and crouch to one knee as he gives his best smile. The boy relaxes a bit and inches closer. Bravery or stupidity (who knows). Then the boy pokes my leg and jumps back. Then I feel a laugh gurgle up into my lungs and out of my mouth. The boy smiles and gives me a curious look. I hold up a finger to my mouth and make a “shh” face. The boy smiles and holds out his hand. I’m at a loss. What do I give? Piers smiles and pulls out a snack bar from his bag and places it in the boy’s hand. The boy takes it happily and disappears.
“That is a future business person.” I say as we walk away giddy with our successful trip.
“A sneaky one at that.” Piers says with a grin.
“Eh, what can you do?”
“Definitely not business with him.” He winks, and it makes me miss Milo.